INDEPENDENT M&A ADVISORY

The advisor who knows the math
controls the conversation.

EQB Strategy provides independent valuation, offer evaluation, and transition advisory for financial advisors managing $20 million to $100 million in assets. No recruiting. No conflicts. Every engagement led directly by the principal.

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$20M - $100M
Advisor AUM Range

100%
Principal - Led Execution

18 Years
in Corporate Finance & M&A

THE APPROACH

Clarity before urgency.

Most advisors engage representation after a decision has already been forced. A partner exits, a health event compresses the timeline, or a buyer surfaces with an offer that expires in ten days. By then, the leverage has shifted. The options have narrowed. The advisor is negotiating from a position they did not choose.

EQB Strategy operates upstream of that moment. The objective is not to manufacture urgency. It is to ensure that when a decision arrives, and it will, the advisor has already modeled the economics, stress-tested the structure, and preserved optionality.

In many cases, the right outcome is staying exactly where you are.
Just staying there on purpose.

This is not an advocacy practice. It is a diagnostic one. The work begins with what is true about your practice, revenue quality, client concentration, platform cost structure, owner dependency, and proceeds from there. No predetermined outcome. No pressure toward any particular transaction.

EQB has evaluated competing offers, modeled platform cost structures, and built valuation frameworks for advisors across multiple custodians, broker-dealers, and RIA platforms.

  • Practice Valuation

    Adjusted revenue multiples derived from actual practice data. Client demographics, concentration risk, recurring revenue mix, growth trajectory, and owner dependency. A defensible range, not a speculative number.

  • Offer Evaluation

    Competing LOIs decoded in parallel. Cash at close, earnout structure, clawback provisions, tax treatment, and restrictive covenants. The terms that determine whether a 3x multiple is actually a 2x outcome.

  • Succession Architecture

    Formal transition structures designed to convert practice value into realized liquidity. Internal successors, buy-sell agreements, minority equity sales, and phased exits that survive contact with reality.

  • Platform Economics

    Total cost-of-platform analysis: grid rates, TAMP fees, ticket charges, revenue sharing, and hidden constraints. For advisors in the $20M–$100M range, the delta between perceived cost and actual cost is often $40,000 to $120,000 annually.

  • Tax Structure

    Transaction-level tax planning integrated with entity design and deal architecture. Goodwill allocation, installment sale treatment, capital gains optimization. Structured before the deal, not reconciled after.

  • M&A Advisory

    Buy-side and sell-side representation structured around the advisor's long-term interests. Counterparty diligence, negotiation strategy, and deal terms engineered to protect what has been built, not to maximize transaction volume.

Two sides of the same decision

WHO THIS IS FOR

Evaluating a Transition

You have a practice with real enterprise value. $20 million to $100 million in assets under management, generating $200K to $1M in annual revenue. You may be three to five years from stepping back. You may be 35 wondering whether your current platform can support the next phase. The questions are the same.

  • What is my practice actually worth and what is driving the multiple?

  • What am I paying in total cost? What would I retain in a different structure?

  • How do I evaluate competing offers without being sold?

  • When is the right time to act, and what does each path foreclose?

This is advisor-side representation. Not recruiting.

Building Through Acquisition

You are not winding down. You are scaling. You want to acquire a $15 million to $40 million book from a retiring advisor, bring on junior partners, or consolidate practices under one platform. The economics must be modeled before the first conversation.

  • What should I pay for a book of business? How should it be structured?

  • How do I value a practice I am acquiring relative to my own?

  • What does adding a second advisor actually cost my margins?

  • Can my current platform support the growth trajectory I am planning?

Acquisition strategy. Succession from the other side of the table.

If you are looking for a guaranteed multiple, a platform recommendation, or a fast answer,
this is not the right engagement.

EQB Strategy works with advisors who want to understand their position fully before making an irreversible decision.

  • "I've worked with Josh in advisor-facing strategy and valuation discussions and have always appreciated his thoughtful, structured approach. He asks the right questions, digs into the details, and focuses on practical outcomes rather than theory. Anyone considering working with him should expect a clear process, honest feedback, and someone who understands both the economics and the human side of advisor transitions."

    Rob Emrich III, Founder & Managing Partner, Acruence Capital

  • "Josh Curtis is the rare operator in advisor-side M&A who combines sharp valuation judgment with real stewardship. He runs an exceptionally clean process, communicates with clarity, and protects the advisor's interests without theatrics or noise. If an advisor wants a serious outcome handled with integrity from first conversation to close, Josh is someone I would recommend without hesitation."

    Trey Taylor, Managing Partner, Threadneedle, the Taylor Family Office

  • "Our firm has been engaged alongside several of Josh's advisory clients, and while each situation was uniquely structured, the experience was consistent. Clear communication, well-prepared clients, and measurable results. That level of consistency is rare from advisory firms in this space. We have and will continue to refer business to EQB."

    Ryan Leggett, CEO, The Anchor Group

  • "Josh listens. He cares about what matters most to his clients. He works hard. And he always, always acts with the utmost integrity and discretion. You can trust Josh to do what is right, not what is merely expedient."

    Tim Richardson,Founder & CEO, Enliven

HOW IT WORKS

A process built for precision, not volume.

01

Confidential Conversation

An initial conversation to understand what you are navigating. A transition, an unsolicited offer, a succession question, or a concern about your platform economics. No engagement letter. No obligation. If this is not something EQB can help with, you will hear that directly from the principal.

02

Valuation & Analysis

Practice data is gathered, revenue, client demographics, expenses, platform structure, and modeled against current market comparable. The deliverable is a defensible valuation range, a total platform cost analysis, and an objective assessment of available options. No predetermined outcome.

03

Ongoing Advisory

The strongest advisory relationships do not end with a deliverable. EQB remains engaged as your situation evolves, because decisions rarely arrive on schedule, market conditions shift, and the landscape changes. When the moment comes, the work has already been done.

ABOUT

Josh Curtis

Eighteen years at the intersection of corporate finance, tax strategy, and M&A, advising on deal structure, cost optimization, and practice economics for financial advisors managing between $20 million and $100 million in assets.

EQB Strategy is a principal-led practice. There is no team, no associates, no handoff. When you engage the firm, you work directly with the person who builds the model, runs the analysis, and sits across the table during negotiation. That is the commitment and that is the constraint.

This is not a recruiting practice. The firm represents advisors, providing the valuation, structure, and strategic clarity required to make consequential decisions from a position of knowledge, not pressure.

Evaluating a transition?

All consultations are confidential and carry no obligation. If EQB is not the right fit for your situation, you will hear that directly.

REQUEST A CONFIDENTIAL CONSULTATION


Or contact directly at: Joshua@EQBStrategy.com